I’ve been blogging a little while now and long since gave up the initial obsession with the Stats page. When you first find it, right at the start and people are actually reading your page it is something of a magnet. After a while you realise that numbers aren’t people and it is the interaction, the building of friendships and relationships that really matters.
So these days the only stats I usually look at are the ones on the little graph on the dashboard. Every so often, however, curiosity takes me into the main stats page to cast an eye on the referrers and clicks to see what, if anything, I am getting right… or wrong. And to smile at one number, over 20,000, that means I really have reached real people; the comments. That’s the one that matters.
Out of curiosity I had a look at the most viewed posts over the past month. How to make a living as a writer is twice as popular as anything else, whilst the small dog is, apparently, on a par with New Knickers. This, I can only put down to all the shares and reblogs both those posts had… and Ani seems to manage quite nicely therefore to beat me hands down on my own turf, so to speak. As usual.
The clicks are interesting, showing, as they do, where people have clicked on a link in an article. It is reassuring to know that they do. The search terms are always amusing… or they were till they became limited by Google’s reticence on releasing them. One can see why when the top search terms by a clear margin are still every conceivable variant of ‘dog xxx’ and Ani’s 30th post, with almost 7000 views, is by far the most viewed on the blog. Though perhaps not for any reason either she or I intended.
The referrers section is interesting. It shows how people have found the blog, and though it is far from being an exhaustive list it is useful, showing, as it does, where your presence is most effective. Most of the time there are the same ‘culprits’ listed… social media pages, guest posts and reblogs and the handful of standard referrers that are always present.
Tonight I wandered over while I took a break for coffee. The top referrer was a new one on me; Google News. Since when am I on Google News? A quick search is of no help at all. And more to the point, what have I done to get there? Because, I’d sort of like to know about it. Is this fame or notoriety? Am I about to see headlines like “Writer runs naked through woods” (which would be blatantly untrue. I never run.)
Will I be overrun by hordes of reporters? Or is it just a glitch in the system somewhere? Because, quite honestly… I’ll put the kettle on and they can all come in. There are all these books to promote…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I just love the Ani posts. OK I am animal crazy.
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And this is one crazy Ani-mal 🙂
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Crafty post 😀
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*bats eyelashes* 🙂
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clever girl
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😉
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I remember discovering that I was a source on a Wikipedia post. They were sourcing me and I was sourcing IMDB. And who was the original source? It is something to ponder, this chain of references with the original information lost in the mists of time. Glad you are enjoying success. You deserve it!
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I’m having fun, which is the most important thing 🙂
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I didn’t even discover that there were stats for three years! Now I have to go explore a bit! Thanks Sue for the lesson.
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You can have a lot of fun with the search terms 😀
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Fascinating. I haven’t quite made a year yet and when the stats link appears showing hits likes and comments I glance at that. It’s the comments as you say that catch my eye. I haven’t gone deeper to see who and where from yet. I guess when I have the n bef of books to promote as you do I might a big more forensic! Thanks for the mind prod. Time to look around.
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It isn’t worth worrying about the numbers.. but the people, thats a different matter. Hope you are feeling a tad better today?
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hank; back home and sofa bound so ok, yes thank you
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Stay put 🙂
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I’ve always been aware of the stats page, but I’ve never dallied there before. Perhaps I will now. You make it sound so interesting 😊
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It can be amusing 🙂
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Reblogged this on oshriradhekrishnabole.
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It could be because I googled how to spell Sue five hundred thousand times. 😉
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LOL 🙂
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You have such an interesting mix of writings and photography, there is no wonder you are so highly viewed. I have really enjoyed our conversations. I had to grin because that new blogger is me, though I find myself less and less drawn to my stats.
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Oh I was obsessed to begin with… but it soon dawns that it really is about the people. That’s where the joy of it lies.
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“,,, running naked through the woods. I never run.” LOL! You are hilarious!
I love the stats! As a writer, its very rewarding to know that people are reading my posts. But the comments, now they really make my day! Sometimes its a debate, other times its just a chat. But in some way those people felt moved to interact with you because of something you’ve written. I love my regulars to bits and pieces, but its also lovely to meet someone new. I have met some truly lovely people through blogging. I’m so glad I started doing it.
Dancing naked through the woods to sell some books? Can’t say I’ve ever considered it, but if it works…
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I haven’t either. Not to sell books… 🙂
Yes, I agree, it is the people… who become friends… that makes this worthwhile 🙂
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Too funny Sue! Sandy and I love your blogs…they are so entertaining and informative and great pictures to visualize…although none of them show people running naked through the woods 🙂
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Nor will they… probably 😉
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Reblogged this on Anita & Jaye Dawes.
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I have trouble finding thus inormation, from time to time. As I insist, I am nit. Te hy oerin so these things escape me. Shall have a wee look though when I do find a spare moment, see if it makes any sense to me !!!!!!!!!!’
Evelyn
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It doesn’t always make sense o me either 😉 x
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I’d be willing to bet this article will get a lot of views – who can resist dogs or stats if they write a blog!
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🙂 You never know 🙂
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You’re kinda famous 🙂 (Aside from my posts on nudism which always garner attention) The most searched and popular post on my blog is one of my feature articles on Red Clay and Roses. It shows the Varsity Restaurant in Atlanta and speaks to racism in the South and segregation. Most of the time people are searching for a map of the Mason-Dixon line. With that map on my post, I figure a search for maps of that nature brings them to the map in that blog post. I imagine school kids with assignments searching for that archaic map. I get emails from young people asking me about segregation and not wanting to believe such existed in this country a mere fifty years ago. Being able to tell the true history of those times to people who did not live it makes it all worthwhile.
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Yes, it is amazing how easily the parts of recent history we are not prud of sink into oblivion. It is hugely important fot young people to know and be able to ask those who lived their own past.
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I rarely visit the stats page although I suppose if numbers were important to me, I’d try to up them. It is rewarding to be seen and even better to be given feedback through comments. Early on, I decided to just focus on personal expression and stats be damned. I’ve read that tag lines are most important for drawing to one’s site and they do that best if it is a common interest topic. Some things are a mystery, why one day is more popular than another? The most interesting is that my favorites are not the crowd’s favorites. Who do I play to – the crowd or my inner soul’s urging? I think you know the answer to that one! 😉
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That’s pretty much how I see it too, Eliza.
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lovely
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Ani should be delighted – she’ll get her automatic tennis ball launcher soon!
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Hope so… she’s wearing the current one out 😉
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